ATLAS 5 PIERCES THE NIGHT TO BOOST NATIONAL SECURITY SATELLITE INTO SPACE - A covert communications relay station to route spy satellite data directly to users was successfully launched by a million-pound Atlas 5 rocket overnight.
The United Launch Alliance rocket left Cape Canaveral under the cover of darkness at 3:28 a.m. EDT (0728 GMT), dodging rain showers while speeding through decks of clouds, for a trek to geosynchronous transfer orbit to deploy the NROL-52 spacecraft.
The fifth launch attempt proved to be the charm for NROL-52 after four thwarted tries over the past week, mainly due to bad weather.
The last Atlas variant of any kind with this many scrubs was AC-167, the final Atlas 2AS in 2004, that experienced four scrubs and launched on the fifth try. More(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 16)

CAN TINY SATELLITES HELP THE COAST GUARD DO ITS JOB? - Satellites, small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, are driving a new Space Age, researchers say, and the U.S. Coast Guard wants in.
In 2018, two so-called cube satellites will be launched into low Earth orbit from a SpaceX rocket, part of a project to test whether the satellites can detect emergency distress beacons in the Arctic. The mission, dubbed "Polar Scout," is also a way for the Coast Guard to look at potential uses for these satellites in its day-to-day work. More(Source: theday.com - Oct 15)

WATCH ASTRONAUTS FLIP WHEN THEY GET TO PLAY WITH A FIDGET SPINNER ON THE SPACE STATION - We’re not entirely sure if fidget spinners are still a thing on Earth. But judging by a new video from NASA, they’re still cool on the International Space Station.
The video uploaded on Friday by the Johnson Space Center YouTube account was trending Saturday on the social platform.
“How long does it spin? I’m not sure, but it’s a great way to experiment with Newton’s laws of motion!” the description on the video reads. More(Source: GeekWire - Oct 15)

PROGRESS CARGO FREIGHTER BEGINS TWO-DAY TREK TO SPACE STATION - A Russian Progress freighter carrying nearly three tons of fuel, cargo and supplies for the International Space Station took off from Kazakhstan Saturday, two days after an uncommon last-minute abort for its Soyuz booster.
The unpiloted Progress MS-07 supply ship launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 0846:53 GMT (4:46:53 a.m. EDT; 2:46:53 p.m. Baikonur time) Saturday to kick off a two-day pursuit of the orbiting research laboratory flying 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the planet. More(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 15)

SEE BACK-TO-BACK ROCKET LAUNCHES EARLY SATURDAY: HOW TO WATCH THEM ONLINE - Calling all early-bird space fans! Two rockets — one Russian and the other American — will launch on two very different missions early Saturday (Oct. 14). You can watch both launches online, but you'll have to wake up in the wee hours to do it.
The space action starts at 3:31 a.m. EDT (0731 GMT) with the launch of a classified U.S. spy satellite on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. More(Source: Space.com - Oct 14)

AMERICANS WILL HEAD TO SPACE AGAIN, WITHOUT A RUSSIAN TAXI - Since the Space Shuttle’s retirement six years ago, NASA has been buying spots aboard Russian Soyuz craft to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station. It’s a politically awkward arrangement, to say the least, given more than a decade of strained relations, Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the dented American pride in having to ask in the first place.
The situation has understandably increased pressure on NASA, which hired Boeing Co. and Elon Musk’s SpaceX to build a new generation of vessels to shuttle U.S. astronauts to the station. Both companies are scheduled to fly two test flights next year for NASA’s commercial crew program, including one each that will carry two crew members—an ambitious schedule that could slip into 2019. More(Source: Bloomberg - Oct 14)

TIANGONG-1: CHINESE SPACE STATION WILL CRASH TO EARTH WITHIN MONTHS - An 8.5-tonne Chinese space station has accelerated its out-of-control descent towards Earth and is expected to crash to the surface within a few months.
The Tiangong-1 or “Heavenly Palace” lab was launched in 2011 and described as a “potent political symbol” of China, part of an ambitious scientific push to turn China into a space superpower.
It was used for both manned and unmanned missions and visited by China’s first female astronaut, Liu Yang, in 2012. More(Source: The Guardian - Oct 14)

MODIFIED RUSSIAN MISSILE BOOSTS EUROPE’S NEWEST ENVIRONMENTAL SENTINEL TO SPACE - A European satellite that will collect daily air quality measurements over every major city on Earth rode an uprated Russian ballistic missile into orbit Friday.
Assembled in Britain with a significant Dutch contribution, the Sentinel 5 Precursor satellite will measure greenhouse gases with unrivaled precision, mapping atmospheric chemistry in city-sized blocks to help tell policymakers and scientists how air pollution changes day-to-day. More(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 13)

POLLUTION-TRACKING SATELLITE LAUNCHES FRIDAY: WATCH LIVE - A European satellite built to map Earth's air like never before will launch into space early Friday (Oct. 13), and you can watch it live online.
The Sentinel-5P satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA) is scheduled to lift off aboard a Rockot launch vehicle at 5:27 a.m. EDT (0927 GMT) from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. You can watch the launch live beginning at 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT), courtesy of the ESA. You can also watch the launch directly from the ESA.
Sentinel-5P (the "P" stands for "Precursor") is designed to track global air pollution from orbit in unprecedented detail. More(Source: Space.com - Oct 13)

LAUNCH OF SOYUZ 2.1A WITH PROGRESS MS-07 SCRUBBED SECONDS BEFORE LIFTOFF
- Less than a minute before it was to take to the skies to deliver the Progress MS-07 cargo freighter to the International Space Station, an unknown issue with the Soyuz 2.1a launch vehicle prompted a rare scrub for the Russian space agency’s workhorse rocket. Liftoff was expected at 5:32 a.m. EDT (09:32 GMT) Oct. 12, 2017, from Site 31 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. More(Source: SpaceFlight Insider - Oct 13)

SPACEX LAUNCHES ITS 15TH MISSION OF THE YEAR - Maintaining a brisk flight rate three days after its last launch, SpaceX sent a Falcon 9 booster powered by a reused first stage into orbit Wednesday evening from Florida with an Airbus-built communications satellite for SES and EchoStar.
The successful launch placed the 5.7-ton (5.2-metric ton) satellite in a “supersynchronous” orbit arcing thousands of miles above Earth, and the Falcon 9’s first stage returned to landing on a football field-sized barge holding position around 200 miles (300 kilometers) east of Cape Canaveral. More(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 13)

SENTINEL-5P POISED FOR LIFTOFF - With four days to liftoff, the next Sentinel satellite is now on the launch pad at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.
The rocket will be fuelled two days before launch, set for Friday at 09:27 GMT (11:27 CEST).
The Sentinel-5P satellite has been at the cosmodrome since early September going through a series of tests and being readied for the big day. After being sealed from view in the rocket fairing last week, it was rolled out to the launch pad on Saturday. More(Source: Space Daily - Oct 12)

WATCH RUSSIA LAUNCH ITS FASTEST SPACE STATION CARGO FLIGHT YET ON THURSDAY! - The Russian space agency Roscosmos is about to make history with its fastest cargo flight ever to the International Space Station, launching early Thursday (Oct. 12), and you can watch it live online.
Roscosmos will launch a Souyuz rocket carrying the robotic cargo ship Progress 38 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kasakhstan at 5:32 a.m. EDT (0932 GMT). The cargo ship's superfast trip will bring it to the orbiting lab at 8:56 a.m. EDT (1256 GMT). Total elapsed time from launch to docking will be 3 hours, 24 minutes. You can watch the launch live on NASA TV, courtesy of NASA, beginning at 5:15 a.m. EDT (0915 GMT). More(Source: Space.com - Oct 12)

SPACEX LAUNCHES, LANDS RECYCLED ROCKET - SpaceX on Wednesday launched a rocket that had already flown to space and landed it successfully on an ocean platform, as part of its ongoing effort to recycle costly rocket components.
On a clear autumn evening at 6.53pm (2253 GMT), the tall, white Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida carrying the Echostar 105/SES-11 satellite.
“Couldn’t be more perfect weather for a launch,” said a commentator on SpaceX’s live webcast.
The satellite aims to provide television coverage and communications capabilities to North America, Hawaii, Mexico and the Caribbean. More(Source: New Straits Times Online - Oct 12)

RUSSIAN PROGRESS SUPPLY SHIP POISED FOR SWIFT TRIP TO SPACE STATION - Russian ground crews are readying a robotic Progress cargo freighter for launch Thursday on an expedited trek to the International Space Station that should take less than three-and-a-half hours from liftoff to docking, cutting in half the normal transit time.
The Progress MS-07 supply ship is loaded with several tons of food, spare parts, fuel, water and breathing air for the space station’s six-person crew. More(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 11)

SPACE STATION ASTRONAUTS TAKING SPACEWALK TODAY: WATCH IT LIVE - Two NASA astronauts will head outside of the International Space Station today (Oct. 10) for the second of three planned spacewalks this month.
Expedition 53 commander Randy Bresnik and flight engineer Mark Vande Hei, who took a spacewalk together last Thursday (Oct. 5), will spend another 6.5 hours working outside the orbiting laboratory today.
They'll continue working on the Latching End Effector (LEE), a "hand" at the end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm, which they replaced last week, and install some new high-definition cameras outside the space station. More(Source: Space.com - Oct 11)

SPACEX TO LAUNCH SES-11 SATELLITE WEDNESDAY - Less than 60 hours after a Falcon 9 rocket launched 10 Iridium NEXT satellites into space from the West Coast, on the other side of the continent SpaceX is set to send the SES-11 spacecraft into orbit for a scheduled liftoff at 6:53 p.m. EDT (22:53 GMT) Oct. 11, 2017, from Launch Complex 39A.
Launching atop a flight-proven Falcon 9 rocket, SES-11 will be SpaceX’s 15th mission in 2017, continuing a very busy year for the company. The particular first stage used for this mission, core 1031, was first flown during CRS-10 in February 2017. More(Source: SpaceFlight Insider - Oct 11)

HOUSE-SIZED ASTEROID WILL PASS BY EARTH AT JUST ABOVE SATELLITE ALTITUDE - A house-size asteroid will give Earth a near-miss on Thursday, giving experts a rare chance to rehearse for a real-life strike threat as it passes inside the moon’s orbit.
Dubbed 2012 TC4, the space rock will shave past at an altitude of less than 44,000km (27,300 miles) – just above the 36,000km plane at which hundreds of geosynchronous satellites orbit the Earth.
That represents about an eighth of the distance between the Earth and the moon. More(Source: The Guardian - Oct 11)

JAPAN'S LATEST GPS SATELLITE WILL GUIDE SELF-DRIVING CARS - apan just fulfilled a key part of its space ambitions -- and it'll have important ramifications for everything from self-driving cars to self-defense. The country has launched its fourth Michibiki satellite, which expands a "quasi-zenith" system designed to provide greater access to GPS in urban 'canyons' where buildings tend to block signals from lower-orbit satellites. Needless to say, that's vital for autonomous vehicles that need GPS to get their bearings in a country dominated by sprawling cities.
The military might want it, too. While Japan's armed forces are largely focused on defense, this fourth quasi-zenith satellite could help those calling on the nation to buy cruise missiles as a deterrent to North Korea. More(Source: Engadget - Oct 11)

CHINA SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES EARTH-IMAGING SATELLITE FOR VENEZUELA - A Chinese Long March 2D rocket launched Venezuela’s second Earth-observing surveillance satellite Monday, adding a new space-based reconnaissance asset the country’s government says it will use to aid security forces, emergency responders, farmers, and health professionals.
The two-stage, 134-foot-tall (41-meter) Long March 2D booster took off at 0413 GMT (12:13 a.m. EDT) Monday from the remote Jiuquan space base in the Gobi Desert in northwest China, according to China Great Wall Industry Corp., the government-owned company chartered to sell Chinese rockets and satellites on the global market. More(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 10)